Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 24, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 4 Winnipeg free press Friday april 24. 1981 Oewy free press getting a Facelift it s not the Way doctors perform facelifts but this worker is the Public safety building Are receiving a coat of paint As part helping a former Beauty regain some of its past Charm. The of a the buildings were built in 1882 and Are Drake hotel and Bawlf Block of Princess Street across from now undergoing a a Balling Constitution plan clears House Clark tories proud of the work we have done in improving Resolution continued from Page 1 the opposition Leader said he is proud of the delay he has caused in the House Over the Constitution. My party and i Are proud of the work we have done in having Parlia ment delay and improve this resold he said despite Maceachen s Conten Tion parliament has been following Trudeau s personal obsession. Instead of treating the Constitution As though it belonged to the whole country he has acted As though it is his alone to change in ways that Are his alone to Clark said. The Liberal party lets him get away with it As does the nip sitting com patently Back while the constitutional measure which is this Man s obsession is forced through this parliament. I do not begrudge the prime minis Ter his place in Clark said. But i would like him to leave us a . Constitution committee firm in objection to Patria Tion London up the Kershaw com Mittee said in a report today that its objections to the Canadian govern ment s constitutional package have not been shaken by the Federal position paper published March 24. That paper issued under the Signa Ture of Justice minister Jean Chretien was a reply to the Kershaw com Mittee s original report of Jan. 30 that urged British maps to reject the Patria Tion request because it lacked a sufficient level and distribution of support in Canada. In its reply to the Chretien paper the Kershaw committee today contended that the Canadian document contains several factual errors misinterpretations and statements quite at variance with the opinions of former Cana Dian governments. The Chretien paper s criticisms boil Down to two propositions said the la test report of the Kershaw committee the British commons select committee on foreign affairs. One of those propositions is that British parliament must automatically Grant any request for constitutional changes coming from the parliament of Canada. The other is that the request under consideration in Canada new while it May affect the rights and Powers of provincial governments would not be detrimental to provincial interests. We regard the first of these propositions As inherently the Kershaw report says. It is inconsistent not Only with Well understood constitutional principles but also with the repeated statements of Canadian ministers at the time of and subsequent to Canadian Independence concerning both the role of the . Parliament and the role of the Canad an authorities in making requests to the . Parliament. Proposition implies the proposition implies that the . Authorities would be bound to accede automatically to a request even if that request were to abolish the provinces against the protests of ail or most provincial governments or Legislatures or were found by Canad an courts to be unconstitutional or were made without electoral Man Date and if enacted could not be revoked by a subsequently elected Cana Dian on the second Point As to. Whether the current proposals Are detrimental to provincial the report says that this has never been the concern of British authorities. Our Only concern has been with constitutional and not with the merits or substance of the Federal request says. The committee says it Sticks to its original View that if a requested amendment would directly affect the rights Powers or privileges of Provin Cial governments or Legislatures it is not for the . Parliament to inquire whether such effects Are detrimental to the provinces or to Canada or to provincial interests or to anyone s interests. Any such assessment of detrimental would be improper in just the ways deplored by the 1981 Chretien paper it would involve an examination of merits or at least of substance by a legislature not responsible for the Gen eral welfare of Canada. The Only proper constitutional in Quiry for the . Parliament can be whether a requested amendment directly affecting the rights of Provin Cial governments or Legislatures has an appropriate measure of provincial con the report suggests that in analysing past amendments the Chretien paper is playing word games and using vague the Chretien paper uses expressions such As of considerable importance to the provinces and serious Impact on provincial interests in describing some of these previous amendments. Country to live in when he is Clark said Trudeau still could meet the provincial premiers and work on what Clark said is a basis for future discussion the Prover trial Accord among eight dissident premiers seek ing simple Patria Tion of the 1867 British North America act with an amending formula that would allow provinces to opt out of constitutional changes reducing their Power. He has one More Opportunity now to prove that his concern is for the coun try and that his motive is National and merely not narrowly Clark said myths pushed Maceachen said the opposition has been pushing two other the majority of the people Are against constitutional change and that the fed eral government is leading Canada on a radically new course. Neither is Correct he said. The myth that most of the people oppose the Federal proposal has been repeated so Long that it has taken on a life of its own Maceachen said. Well i do not find anyone knocking on the door of parliament asking that we Stop this Maceachen said polls which show that the people oppose unilateral Feder Al action Are distorted and by election results favouring the liberals in Prince Edward Island s Cardigan Riding and London West in Ontario show the feds Are in Good shape. The people of those constituencies in two widely separated provinces had an Opportunity to say no. But they did not Maceachen said. And the Gallup poll taken in the midst of Clark s successful attempt to Stop parliamentary activity show the liberals Are right Maceachen claimed. While they were screaming out their questions of privilege in the House of commons the people responding to the polls were saying we prefer the grits. We prefer them More than we did in the last election " Lalonde wants users of fuel to pay for Deal continued from Page 1 time the takeover was announced that Consumers would face Only minimal increases to pay for the Deal. Asked whether he thought it fair to impose the Levy Only on Consumers of Petroleum products since All canadians own Petrosina Lalonde replied that the government wanted the Pil and Gas sector to pay for the Deal. Lalonde also announced an extra charge of Between a barrel and a barrel on All Marine and aviation fuels consumed by Domestic and. Foreign carriers with International destinations. The charge also effective May 1, will reduce Price differences for International Marine and aviation fuels which now exist in different regions of the country. The ownership charge is being placed on natural Gas As Well As Oil because Petro Canada is a National asset la Londe said. The government Oil company will borrow to pay for the remaining 15 per cent of the Cost. Lalonde said the government decided that rather than asking the state Oil company to add to its current debt Load which could hamper its Short term activities Ottawa would pay for 85 per cent of the Petrosina Purchase Price through the ownership account. postal front Ouellet was an swering questions at the Senate com Mittee on transport and communications which is studying legislation to turn the Post office department into a Crown corporation. Rates have to Rise the legislation was passed in the commons last week and Ouellet said it should be proclaimed into Law by sept. 1. Postal rates would Rise in the Early months of the corporation s exis tence. He said rates would have to Rise whether or not the corporation was created to allow the department to Cope with increased expenditures such As the Cost of fuel for postal trucks. How High rates will go is up to the Liberal Cabinet. The amount has not yet been fixed. Post office revenues Rise by million for every one cent in crease in the first class rate. The revenues Are also expected to help reduce the Post office deficit. Finance minister Allan Mac Eachen has predicted the Post office will be deficit free within four years. Postal rates have not been increased for two years. Another financial Job for the administrators of the new corporation will be to separate postal services that can be run under competitive business rules from social service styled operations that parliament would be asked to subsidize. An example cited by Deputy Post master general James Corkery for the senators was the delivery by the Post office of Green groceries by Parachute in Remote Northern communities. Not really mail that s not really mail Corkery said but it is a service the Post office provides will continue to provide and should be recognized by Parlia ment As a necessity that should be subsidized. Corkery made a Point of telling the senators that existing Post office management supports conversion to a Crown corporation. Last week the coun try s largest postal Union said the management opposes the conversion. The Canadian Union of postal workers said Michael War Ren appointed president of the corporation will have a difficult Job get Ting control of the administration and changing the attitudes of managers who Are resisting the conversion. However Corkery said the managers Are most anxious to see this transformation to a Crown corporation come about with its new opportunities and challenges to revitalize this venerable and yet modern and essential service to All the people of some senators made last ditch appeals to Ouellet to change the Legisla Tion so that the corporation s Powers will be More limited. They wanted greater limits on the company s right to get regulations from Cabinet without parliamentary approval. Ouellet promised to discuss their proposals with Justice minister Jean Chretien and Treasury Board president Don Johnston. He said changes could be made in legislation that will cover the operations of All Crown corporations or in routine Justice legislation which changes anomalies in various Laws. Disruption of airports threatened in Britain London a Union leaders today threatened disruption at every major Airport in Britain following the breakdown of pay talks Between the government and striking civil ser vants. It is Likely to be a five week pro Gram involving All main said a spokesman for the Council of civil service unions which represents White Collar workers. We Are just deciding where and when to involve air traffic controllers in the Dis a spokesman for the civil aviation authority said that for safety reasons the unions agreed to give 48 hours no Tice before calling out air controllers. We will not know until saturday exactly what the unions Are the spokesman said. But if con trollers go on strike at an Airport it cannot operate. Obviously we expect shutdowns on certain shifts and if the disruptions Are Large scale for safety reasons we would have to curtail take offs and lord Soames head of the civil ser vice met with the Union leaders yester Day and said the government will not Budge from its final offer of a seven per cent pay increase but proposed setting up an authoritative Independent inquiry into future pay for government employees. The unions which Are demanding a 15-per-cent wage increase have been conducting selective strikes at key government facilities including Bri Tain s Polaris submarine base in Scot land almost daily since a nation wide stoppage on March 9. Civil service pay currently ranges from a Low of c4.545 a year for janitors to for per manent secretaries to ministries. The Union s strike Campaign has involved Between and strikers at any Given time mainly at tax offices defence bases and customs and excise offices. Movement for Western separatism has run out of steam Western separatism has lost the momentum it had before Christmas but that does not mean it is dead says Roger Gibbins associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary. In this article Gibbins deals with Hie death and resurrection of Western separatism. Calgary up in the Short term the separatist movement in Western Canada is dead the victim of its own ideological extremism. However the Long term prognosis for the move ment is much less certain. Public opinion surveys conducted Over the last few months show that support for separatism remains Low even in its Alberta heartland. Today less than one person in 10 would support separatism and that proportion has not been growing. The movement has lost the Momen Tum it had before Christmas. Separatist rallies Are less frequent and More sparsely attended Media coverage is falling off and West fed the major separatist organization is in disarray. A recent West fed meeting in Cal Gary Drew less than two dozen people despite the appearance of the group s Leader Elmer Knutson. Die separatist movement has impaled itself upon ideological extremism. Initially it attracted a Broad spec Trum of ideological individuals who had found themselves on the losing Side of political decisions Over the last decade. The separatist movement became a vehicle for a Host of ideological grievances that had Little to do with traditional Western Canadian concerns. It became the forum for vociferous attacks on gun control bilingualism immigration minority rights legalized abortion and socialism. Ottawa was attacked not Only for what it was doing to the West but also for its position on communism and government growth. Minority support this ideological crusade enjoys at Best minority support even in Alberta. Thus committed separatists who Are not aligned with the ideological extremism of spokesmen such As Knutson Are abandoning West fed in an attempt to save the separatist cause from right Wing ideological contamination. However the internal disintegration of the separatist movement should not instil complacency about the Polit ical future of Western Canada. I Western alienation from which the separatist movement feeds is still a very broadly based and strongly held Western political predisposition. The Federal government has done Little to ameliorate Western alienation. Ottawa s preoccupation with constitutional Reform Reform which is being handled in a Way that is abrasive to most Western canadians Means that Long standing Western problems Are not being addressed. Ottawa has taken some initial Steps towards a Resolution of the Crow nest freight rates dilemma. However the difficult but unavoidable Choice of hurting either Saskatchewan Grain Farmers or Alberta cattlemen is Likely to postpone any final action. Reform overdue the Federal government has taken no Steps to Reform National institutions so As to make them More representative of and More sensitive to Western Canadian interests. Senate and elector Al Reform appear to have disappeared from the liberals Agenda. Yet Reform of National political institutions is critical to the nation s survival. A repeat of the 1980 election in which the West was almost completely shut out of National Power would pro vide a stimulus to separatism be fore which the National Energy policy would Pale in comparison. Gibbons Reform needed without Reform westerners will continue to rely upon their provincia.1 governments to represent their interests in Ottawa. In the Long run this Reliance will Foster separatism. F 1 4 recent actions by the Alberta government foreshadow this fear. For example it has proposed legislation that would enable referendum Iris albeit of a non binding character to be held with in the province. If passed such legislation would be a godsend to the separatist movement. To Date most separatists have been unwilling to enter the electoral Arena or to form a political party. Alberta separatists have been particularly reluctant to confront directly the electoral steam roller of the Lougheed conservatives. The passage of the referendum legis lation would provide an outlet and one that would bypass electoral combat with the provincial conservatives. The separatist movement could be reborn with the Mission of pressuring the Lougheed government into holding a referendum on separatism. Other actions by the provincial government present and proposed Are equally disturbing. The province May Well pull out of the National medicare system thus sever ing another link Between albertan and Ottawa. The provincial govern ment has also threatened despite Strong opposition from agricultural or pull Alberta Farmers out of the Canadian wheat Board. On the natural resources front the Alberta government is trying to extend the ownership of natural resources to control of such resources in inter pro Vinci Al and International Trade. In essence it is seeking to acquire Powers usually wielded by Sovereign states. The suggestion is not to be made that the Alberta government is controlled by closet separatists. That government has simply been responding to the weaknesses and opportunities of a fed eral system incapable of effective regional representation at the Centre. Nonetheless the Strid ency of the Al Berta government and its efforts to reduce the Federal presence in the prov Ince to the Bare minimum if not beyond suggest that in the years ahead separatism May receive greater institutional support than it enjoys at pres ent. Ties severed during the last six months a significant number of Western canadians have severed their emotional ties with Canada and have become separatists. They will survive the collapse of w est fed and will continue their quest. That quest will be sustained by a Broad base of Western alienation that will not soon be eroded by a Federal government still insensitive to Western interests and by provincial govern ment strategies that logically if not rhetorically offer Solace to the separatist cause. 1 ;